Mirror
by Eternal Love Song
Summary: When Duzell first took the form of a human, he was a mirror to Ishtar. She found that she grew to like the idea and even got used to it.


Some people, both those that knew Ishtar and those that didn't, would call her a self absorbed person. Ishtar would tell them, very loudly and very obstinately, that they were wrong. They, of course, were not.

That was why, despite how strange it was to see herself as a boy, Ishtar was a little intrigued by it. It was not very often that one got to see themselves as the opposite gender. And if it was, she didn't know about it. Really, it got less odd every time and more interesting. She made an attractive boy. She made an attractive girl. Her ego was increasing all the time, as if it wasn't already more grand than the legacy of her lineage. He attention span, however, was decreasing.

"Why are you staring?" Duzell questioned.

Ishtar was startled out of her thoughts. She had almost thought that she was just looking in a mirror. "Oh, Duzie. It's nothing."

"Well are you quite done?" He questioned.

At this, she looked him over. She had been dressing him for playing the part of her brother, but had gotten... distracted. A few times. Aside from Fallen, she had never gotten to have so much fun with her clothes and another person, even if she was trying to make him look like a boy. Before she could answer, perhaps because she let herself become distracted once more, Duzell was standing right before her.

"What is distracting you, princess?" He questioned, lifting her chin with his hand. "You aren't distracted by yourself, are you?"

"Why would I be distracted by myself?" Ishtar replied.

"Well I would think," Duzell began, moving closer to her. "That you were distracted by me, but as I currently look like you..."

Ishtar moved away in her usual dismissive manner. "Honestly, Duzie, I don't know where you get these ideas." She turned away from him, but he grabbed her arm and pulled her closer, talking into her ear.

"You don't need to be embarrassed if you're attracted to me." He told her. "Or if you're attracted to yourself."

"Duzie, I don't know what you're talking about." She responded.

"Of course not." He said, moving away. "Have you never wondered, princess, what I look like?"

Ishtar didn't respond, only slowly turned to face him.

"You realize that I don't actually look like you, don't you?"

"I'm not an idiot, Duzell." She told him. After a moment, she added, "What do you look like?"

He laughed a little and though it was her voice, it seemed different coming from him. "You'll get to see it eventually." He said. "Until then, maybe you should dream of me."

She ignored him. They didn't have time to play around any longer.

Of course, since he'd mentioned it, she did think about him. She wondered what he looked like. It was interesting to hear him - his personality, his words - coming from her and that made her all the more interested in him. But also in her. He was like her mirror. She saw herself and she heard him. Before she realized it, she was thinking more and more about him. Daydreaming more when she was awake and even ignoring Darres.

She was completely transfixed when she finally did see what he truly looked like. "Duzie!" She exclaimed, almost unable to do anything but stare. Almost, but at the last moment she threw her arms around him. "Look at you, Duzie!" She exclaimed again.

He was both amused and exasperated by her exclamation. "Am I what you imagined?" He questioned.

She stepped back and looked him over. "I didn't expect you to be so... pretty! Maybe even better looking than me."

"Do you compare everything to your own looks princess?"

"It's just that I'm so used to seeing you look like me." She said in her defense.

He moved close to her, one arm winding around her waist. "Now do you think you can see as more than just another you?" He asked her softly.

"What are you talking about, Duzie? That is not how I see you."

"Is that so?" He asked.

"Of course it is!" She exclaimed. Though, of course, it wasn't.

He pulled her closer, planting a short and soft kiss on her lips.

Ishtar was shocked for a long moment before she could reply. "Wh-what was that for?"

"Remember that when you think of me." He told her. "Then I can be sure that you do not still think of me as you."

Ishtar wasn't usually one to blush, but her face seemed to grow warmer as she pushed him away. "You don't have time to waste here! Don't you have something important you need to be doing!"

He smiled a little as he pulled away. "You are right, princess." He said as he left.

Ishtar pouted to herself for a long time after he left her. She stared into a mirror trying to imagine Duzell as she could before. As a cat, as herself, but all she could imagine was the silver haired beauty that had kissed her. She let out a groan to her reflection. "You've ruined everything, Duzell!"

For a moment, a wild moment, she tried to imagine kissing her own reflection. Maybe she could trick her mind into thinking of him as her as the same. That would be easier that what she thought now, wouldn't it? That would be easier than what she felt now, right?

It was no use though. She had always thought of Duzell as special. Even when she pretended he was her reflection it never wholly stuck. And now... now she found herself staring at her own lips, remembering when they were connected to his. It had been so much easier to like Darres, who was always just a little off limits too her and just a little distant to her. Duzell, though, was already too much a part of her.

"How am I suppose to confess to you!" She complained to herself.

"For starters, you could turn around."

Ishtar jumped, turning toward the sound of Duzell's voice. "Du-Duzie what are you doing back so soon?"

"Soon?" He repeated. "Your sense of time is off, princess. I've been gone for hours."

"Oh. Well..."

"Let me stop you there, princess." He said calmly, stepping closer to her. "You have something to say to me?"

"I... Um... Don't sneak up on me!" She yelled.

"What has had you so absorbed lately." He asked. "And do not claim that it's nothing. You've been increasingly distracted and while some of that might be normal..."

"I've just been... thinking a lot." She responded.

"About me." He supplied.

"I didn't say that!"

"You've hardly said anything." Duzell told her. "You've told me all other things about your life, why are you holding back on this?"

"Look, I don't know what to say to you, Duzell!" Ishtar exclaimed, turning away. "I think of you like me. I talk to you like me! So I don't know how to... I mean, how am I suppose to..." She broke off her confused rant with a sigh.

"Ishtar, just say what you mean." He told her. "You don't need to explain it."

She pouted a moment, then collected herself into her normal demeanor and said simply, but quietly, "I love you, Duzie."

Duzell walked up to her, pulling her into his arms. "Was that so difficult, princess?" He whispered softly. "I do not have to be you, to understand you." He leaned in close to her. "And you do not need to fear when you tell me that you love me." That said, he leaned and kissed her. Slowly, deeply, leaving the usually outspoken princess speechless. "You don't need me to be your mirror, Ishtar, nor your doppelgänger. I will be here for you as myself. This I promise you."


End file.
